Restaurants are included in the tour program – Kommersant FM

Cafes and restaurants will be included in the domestic tourism development program. Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to work on this issue. Such accession will give businessmen access to benefits. The President noted that such initiatives are especially important in the Far East, where the head of state is on a working trip. How can the authorities support public catering so that it develops in the regions? Grigory Kolganov will tell you.

The connection between the development of domestic tourism and high-quality catering in the regions has now become obvious to the president. He instructed the government to think about benefits for restaurants, as it currently works for hotels and ski resorts.

Representatives of the industry, of course, agree, because they have long been interested in developing places that are far from tourist popularity. But without the help of the state they do not dare to take action, explains the founder of Mary Wong pasta bars, Alexander Balashov: “In the restaurant business there are a lot of complex formats of interaction with the state. If some tax subsidies and benefits appear, you won’t have to constantly submit reports, deal specifically with document flow, namely, develop the region, this, of course, is a huge bonus.

Firstly, the number of employees is reduced. Secondly, the costs of all this are reduced. Naturally, at the starting stage it would be good to say: “Guys, here’s the location for you – get busy.” The more conditions are given for business to develop, the faster the region will be filled with restaurateurs. An empty market is always very interesting.”

Restaurants in the Far East are already placing a special emphasis on gastronomic travel. In the last few years, for example, culinary festivals have been held there more and more often. Similar things happen in other regions, for example, in Udmurtia, “World Dumpling Day” is held in February.

But such tools cannot ensure a constant flow of customers, so first of all, the authorities should help with infrastructure, says Anatoly Odintsov, director of the Academy of Restaurant Business:

“Wherever there is a consumer, public catering will arise – this is an obvious thing. Therefore, from the point of view of the state, we simply need activity that allows us to organize the flow of people to a certain place. But if there are no communications there – water, light, everything else – then a beautiful restaurant will not appear there. We need help with allocating places, the land itself for catering, and we’ll organize everything else ourselves.”

Help from the authorities in developing distant regions is, of course, important, but restaurants have problems that can hardly be solved at the expense of tourists, believes Igor Bukharov, president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers:

“The economic model today is difficult to work with. There are several reasons: low purchasing power among the population, the culture associated with this, manufacturers who today work more for retail, small packaging. For us it is more expensive, we cannot buy products in large quantities, we buy small-packaged ones, which is also not very profitable for us. And, of course, there is a problem with personnel that exists today. We, in fact, take quantity, not the quality of trained personnel.”

Previously, VAT was zeroed out for restaurants and hotels. There is no tax rate if several conditions are met, for example, the turnover of a catering establishment should not exceed 2 billion rubles. After such measures, the Ministry of Finance noticed a whitewashing of the sector.

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Daniil Babkin